The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will soon stage its most massive naval exercises in Iran's Southern waters in the near future, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced.

The news comes just two days after Iran wrapped up its 10-day Naval drills in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, during which it threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the West imposed sanctions on its own oil exports.

Citing Fars, the AP quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's naval commander, Adm. Ali Fadavi, as saying late Thursday that the upcoming exercise would be a continuation of a annual drill called "The Great Prophet."

Fadavi said the next round of war games would be "different" from previous ones. He did not elaborate. The admiral said the drill would take place in the Iranian month of Bahman, which roughly corresponds to February.

"It is the single greatest destabilizing element right now with regards to global security," Hayden reportedly said. "Of all the things that I left, when I was in government, the situation with Iran, and particularly their nuclear program has continued on a trajectory that gets darker with each passing day, week and month. They seem on this inexorable arc in the direction of a nuclear capability and there seems to be nothing that we or other like minded nations can do that will stop them."